“New Technologies and designapproaches for building physicallyembodied intelligent agents andartefacts, with emphasis on therelationship between shape,function and the physical andsocial environment”

Embodied Intelligence

Research Objectives

•Key features:

–Physical Embodiment

–Intelligent Agents and Artefacts

–Shape, Function and Environment

•Mind-Body Co-Development and Co-Evolution

•Morphology and Behaviour

•Design for Emergence

Projects should focus on one or several of the following:

Embodied Intelligence

Research focus 1

Mind-Body Co-Development and Co-Evolution

:

•to develop extended multi-modal interaction of agentswith the physical and social environment.

•For a better understanding of such interaction in open-ended learning and adaptation processes, includingmorphological change for shaping perception, cognition,cooperation and intelligence

•To demonstrate qualititative and quantitativeimprovements in agent capabilities and characteristics

Embodied Intelligence

Research foci 2 & 3

Morphology and Behaviour

New Design principles for sensing, actuation and locomotioncomponents and for robot architectures that are based on adeeper understanding of the role of form and materialproperties in shaping behaviour, and the way these inducerelationships and interactions with the environment and withother agents. The aim is to demonstrate advantages in termsof physical & performance robot characteristics (e.g. control,weight, flexibility, resilience,..)

Design for Emergence

Design paradigms and techniques for purposive agents, wherebehaviour is not strictly programmed but robustly emergesfrom the interaction of the various components (each withlocal intelligence), the environment and its ubiquitousinformation resources. The aim is to develop smartcomponents and techniques for the design of ambitiousclasses of scalable robotic systems, incorporating priorknowledge on tasks or environments, while allowing also roomfor emergence and adaptation

Embodied Intelligence

Coordination Action

Coordination Actions

•Consolidation of research communities

•Visibility

•Research agendas

•National/regional research programmes oractivities

•International cooperation

•…

Embodied Intelligence

Some expected impact

The research should advance the state of theart in intelligent systems and in particular inrobotics and ICT, as well as in otherdisciplines (neuroscience, sociology, biology).It should bring essential contributions forachieving robotic systems: